page_title: 1987 Indianapolis 500
section_title: Spectator fatality
hierarchical_section_title: 1987 Indianapolis 500 / Race summary / Spectator fatality
caption_attribution_description: English: Replica (recreation or restoration) of Roberto Guerrero's 1987 March/Cosworth Indy car at SVRA Brickyard June 2016.
context_page_description: The 71st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 24, 1987. After dominating practice, qualifying, and most of the race, leader Mario Andretti slowed with mechanical problems with only 23 laps to go. Five laps later, Al Unser Sr. assumed the lead, and won his record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory. During the month of May, an unusually high 25 crashes occurred during practice and qualifying, with one driver in particular, Jim Crawford, suffering serious leg injuries.
  Al Unser's victory is considered one of the biggest upsets in Indianapolis 500 history. Unser, whose driving career was beginning to wind down, had dropped down to part-time status a year earlier. He entered the 1987 month of May without a ride and without sponsorship money, which left him on the sidelines for the first week of practice. After Danny Ongais suffered a concussion in a practice crash, Unser was hired by Penske to fill the vacant seat. Unser proceeded to win the race with a year-old March chassis, and the venerable Cosworth DFX, the powerplant's tenth consecutive Indy victory.
context_section_description: On the 130th lap, Tony Bettenhausen started suffering a handling problem exiting turn two. Down the backstretch, his right-front wheel lug nut may have come off the car, and the wheel began to loosen. In turn three, the wheel came off and began rolling though the north short chute. Second place Roberto Guerrero came up on the wheel suddenly, and hit it with his nosecone. The nosecone cover was broken off, and the wheel was punted high into the air. The wheel cleared the catchfencing, and flew towards the "K" grandstand. Spectators were witnessed fleeing the seating in a "V" shape as the 18-pound wheel headed their direction. The wheel came down and struck 41-year-old Lyle Kurtenbach of Rothschild, Wisconsin in the head, sitting in the top row of the grandstand. He suffered massive head injuries, and was pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital shortly afterwards. The wheel bounded and came to rest in the tunnel underneath the north short chute. 
  Guerrero slowed, and nursed his car back to the pits. Under the caution flag, the pit crew worked to replace the nosecone, and got Guerrero back on to the track, albeit a lap down. It was not immediately discovered at the time, but striking the tire had damaged the clutch slave cylinder, which was located in the nose. Fluid had begun to leak from the cylinder, which would ultimately render the clutch inoperable. At speed, use of the clutch was unnecessary, but exiting the pits would pose increasing difficulty.
  The incident was reported live on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network by fourth turn reporter Bob Jenkins. The extent of injury was unknown at the time. The live ABC television broadcast, however, was at commercial when it occurred. During the commercial, the incident was noticed by the producers and commentators. When they returned on-air, however, footage of the incident was not shown, nor were specific details given of what had occurred. Instead, still images of Guerrero's nosecone and pit crew were shown. No further information was given during the remainder of the race. During the post-race coverage, Jim McKay briefly announced on-air that the Associated Press wire service was reporting that a spectator fatality had occurred, but he did not connect the incidents.
caption: A replica of Roberto Guerrero's 1987 March/Cosworth (shown in road course trim).
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